This, I know from tracing and kissing every one of Lucas’s tattoos and asking stories about the scars they cover.
“I must say, I dinnae expect such a cohesive team so soon,” I take out a sterile wipe and hold it up to Lucas. “I’d like to get some of this blood off ye, husband.” I dinnae know how he wants me tohandle interaction in front of his team. Some of my cousins never cared about protocol with the men and women they led, but Lucas as a leader is new to me, he’s more formal than I’m used to.
He leans his head to the side, letting me get to the worst of it. “Any casualties at the MacTavish flats?”
“No,” Raul answers from the front seat. “The MacTavishes know how to build some solid structures. It would have taken more than a couple wee flash-bang grenades and a bit of gunfire to make that building go down. Aside from Mrs. Stewart’s flat, there’s surprisingly little damage and minimal injuries.”
“Hey, Raul, I’m thinking we’re friends now, aye? Call me Catriona, if ye please.”
Lucas is dying to snap, “Ye call her Mrs. Stewart!” I can see it, but he grits his teeth as his second in command grins at me.
“A pleasure, Catriona. Anytime ye want the dirt on your husband, ye know where to come.”
“Ach, you’re gonna be serving the tea,” I grin. The drop from the adrenaline is coming, I know how this goes. I’m covered in filth from the pulverized concrete and rolling around on a dirty parking structure, there’s a few cuts I dinnae notice from shrapnel on my chest and suddenly, going home seems like a grand idea.
Home.
Lucas’s place. I thought of it as home from the first time he took me there. From the moment I first walked in it felt right to me.
It’s small, only two bedrooms, and a high-tech command center eats up a lot of the space downstairs. The warm, comfortable kitchen and the great room piled with books and a big fireplace, though, those rooms welcomed me home the moment I saw them.
“You’re hurt.” Lucas pulls aside my blouse enough to see three tiny cuts. He takes the kit from Alex and pulls out some alcohol wipes.
“Just a couple of nicks,” I say, knowing he’s already going to want a full body scan the second we get home.
However, the SUV turns toward my parent’s estate and I realize this day is just gonna get worse. When Lucas hears what I‘m thinking, the firefight’s gonna look like a tea party in comparison.
***
All snod - Scottish slang for all fixed up.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
In which Catriona throws herself on the sword.
Lucas…
Dubois tried to kidnap my wife.
Again.
That unhinged son of a bitch came after Catagain?I knew he was half-mad, but I’m upping that to seventy-five percent.
“I want to take ye home,” I murmur to her as Alex and Raul pretend not to listen. “There’s more to be said and done first. Are ye all right?”
There’s my girl. Cat rears back and glares at me. “Let’s have a brief recap, shall we? We’re in a firefight andyewere the one who got shot and you’re worried about my dainty state of being?”
Sliding my hand between the seat and her lower back, I rub it gently, feeling for twinges and stiffness. Her expression softens when she understands. “Ye hit the ground hard.”
Taking my hand, she puts it between both ofhers. “I’m fine. Triple the guard on my lab, though, aye? For Dubois, getting my work is far more important than getting me. He’s trying to find out how far I’ve gotten.”
“It’s done.” I issue some low orders to Raul, who’s already on his phone.
If I thought the crowd to welcome Cat home was a wee bit much, it’s nothing compared to the full-on operation at the MacTavish mansion now. Double security, surveillance drones, every corner of the grounds patrolled by guards bristling with weaponry. I nod approvingly. Good work.
Just what I would have done.
Michael opens the car door. “You’re mighty popular for a newlywed, sis. I’m thinking Dubois dinnae get the news?”
